Thursday, February 07, 2008

01. OVER BEFORE YOU KNOW IT 02. ANGEL OF DARKNESS 03. MIND THE GAP 04. GIRLFRIEND ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN SCHIZOPHRENIC EPISODE BY REVEALING CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE 05. AS IF 06. OUTSIDE THE GATE 07. SHIVERY 08. TWO DROPS OF BLOOD 09. CIRCULAR RELATIONS 10. CHINATOWN 11. VISITING AN EX-GIRLFRIEND IN THE HOSPITAL – AIDS WARD 12. WITHIN THE WALLS 13. A SONG FOR LISANNE, A YOUNG MODEL 14. TEN SUICIDES

Well, we were pretty doomed from the start, with the ultra-crap weather that continues to hover over Chicago, lately. An afternoon and evening snowstorm pretty much guaranteed that attendance was going to be poor last night. In fact, the headliners, Hewhocorrupts, did not even bother to turn up. For the record, Bongripper lives further away, and fuck, James lives in Milwaukee!

Winters in Osaka kicked off the night with two contrasting pieces. The first was the hard and heavy one, with really intense guitar work... almost black metal-style (?) ... but blending in really well with the harsh electronics. Their second song was an adaptation of theme music from "Cannibal Holocaust," and their version indeed had a soundtrack-esque quality to it. I enjoy how W.I.O., somewhat similar to Oakeater, never deliver the same type of set twice (unlike us... ha ha!).

Bongripper was up next, and they sounded just as good as I had hoped they would, through the Empty Bottle's PA. That said, it was their own insane towers of amps doing most of the work. Doomy and psychedelic, their set - also comprised of two long songs - was heavier to me than their spacier Flowershop set... more akin to the recent Ronny's stomper.

We were up last and we pretty much got down to work before we lost any more of the dwindling crowd. Heber never showed up, so we did it as a three-piece... Isidro on high-end synth, James on mid- and low-end. After a couple of technical glitches caused by our increasingly destroyed synths, we got going at pretty much full steam, cruising through the 14 songs in about 23 or 24 minutes. For a small crowd, the audience participation was solid. Thanks to everyone there, for that. The MiniDisc recording is crystal clear and hearing James' "sequenced" synth notes on "Ten Suicides" was amazing! Really morose stuff. Unfortunately, that track was pulled out of temporary storage in memory of Eric Stanis from Winters in Osaka. Isidro's vocals were great last night, particularly on "Ten Suicides," as well as on the new track that we debuted, "Circular Relations."

Thanks to Adam (W.I.O.), for putting the show together. Thanks to Bongripper, for showing up and for delivering the goods. Thanks to everyone at the Empty Bottle, for being such excellent hosts, as always. Thanks to Isidro's brother, Rodrigo, for videotaping us. Thanks to everyone who showed up on such an utterly shitty night.

We capped of the night at Taconazo on North Avenue... some tasty lomo, lengua, higado encebollado, etc. Then today, we had a tasty band lunch at Kuma's... James finally had the Slayer, while Isidro and I both tried the new Pantera... yeah, I know... but it was delicious!